Wil's Birthday Bowling Celebration

We had a bowling party for William with the family on the Sunday following his birthday. We picked Grandma Jeanne and Papa Mick up from the airport the night before so we were so happy they could be there to celebrate with us. We went to Lucky Strike for "Brunch-n-Bowl". It was so much fun! William and Maddie had a blast and you know what, all of us adults had a lot of fun too.
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The bowling shoes for the kids were adorable.

William giving his buddy baby Lucas a little pat on the head. Lucas is getting so big! He did really well while we bowled. He started to get a little over all the noise by the end. I didn't blame him! It was loud in there which we realized more fully once we left.
Wil's beautiful Grandma's and Aunt Sonja... lucky guy. It was a great birthday celebration. We will definitely be hitting the bowling alley again soon!

William is 3!

Our little William turned 3 on February 16. I can hardly believe what a big boy he is growing up to be. He is officially potty trained which was a big surprise to me. Exactly one month before his birthday, he peed on the potty for the first time and that week, he pretty much had it down (minus a few accidents here and there in the subsequent weeks but not bad). He is sleeping in a twin bed now. He is talking our ear off night and day. He still barrels down the driveway in his little, red push car. He loves practicing to balance on his skateboard. He likes to color. He loves playing with his cars. He loves his "yaw-yaws". He likes to "fight" with "Mikos" at night on Mommy's bed. He loves his sister and all the fun games she thinks of. He still listens to what she says and enjoys following her around. He can't wait to go to school like Maddie next year. He is such a cool kid.

His birthday fell on a weeknight so I came home with a bag full of presents and we enjoyed dinner at our favorite neighborhood spot- Islands! Maddie wanted to dress up for the "party" and she dressed herself in her fancy dress. What a sweet sister.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to William, happy birthday to you! We love you sweet boy. You are the coolest little man ever and we are so blessed to be your parents.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Maddie decorated heart shape cookies on Valentine's Day to deliver to her neighborhood friends. We made up little goodie bags with chocolate hearts, suckers and pink iced cookies! She really enjoyed doing it and loved delivering them to her friends.


Maddie and William liked their Valentine's gifts from us too! I bought them the world's largest candy necklaces, Dora and Diego chocolates, coloring books, Bug's Life DVD and other fun stuff. We love Valentine's Day!

Beach Day!

You gotta love living in Southern California when it's 80 degrees on a February 13th afternoon and warm enough for a trip to the beach. I mean, who wouldn't love that? We had an unseasonably beautiful weekend and we decided at 1:00 on Saturday to pack up the kids and head down to the beach. We whipped up some turkey sandwiches and snacks, threw the sand toys, beach chairs and umbrella into the trusty Explorer and went to the beach. It was gorgeous. The water was pretty darn cold but that did not stop the kids from frolicking in it and did not stop Maddie from practically submerging herself in it! It was super fun and really got us all excited for summertime. We took some fun pics of the kids enjoying themselves...
I love this picture of William. This is his "tough guy" face. I think he picked it up from Mikos. :)
I love how kids have no issue with sitting in and rolling around in the sand and getting it all over themself. They don't care if it gets in their bathing suit or on the beach towel. They just love the simple pleasure of playing. Nothing bothers them. It's such a beautiful thing.


William was obsessed with picking rocks and chucking them into the ocean. We had to keep telling him to watch out for his sister!

Dancing Fools...

Maddie and Mikos had another Daddy/Daughter dinner and dance two weeks ago with their Indian Princess nation. It was on a Wednesday night so I wasn't able to help her get ready this time but Norma did a great job doing her hair and they stopped off to see me at work on their way to the dance. Maddie was so excited. She looked so cute and was so proud walking through my office all dressed up and ready to go!

Color-Me-Mine

Last Thursday, Maddie and I went to Color-Me-Mine with her best friend Jordyn to celebrate her birthday. It was a small party- just Jordyn, her brother and parents, Jordyn's two cousins and aunt and us (we left William at home with Grandma Jeanne and Papa Mick). Maddie loved it! She had fun browsing the pottery and picking out what she wanted to paint and the paint colors. She wore the cutest outfit ever...thanks to our good friend Kama! Maddie loves the full skirt on this outfit. It looks like she has her shoes on the wrong feet but she actually doesn't. She was just crossing her legs for her funny pose. She's so silly!
Maddie and Jordyn... BEST buds!
I had fun painting too! I helped Maddie with the second and third coats. The last time I was at Color-Me-Mine was with all of my girlfriends in Pennsylvania for Girls Weekend and we brought 7 layer dip to munch on while we painted (did we bring wine too?). That was long before any of us had kids yet (except Holly). I don't want to even guess how many years ago that was!
Maddie picked out a giant cupcake to paint. The top actually comes off and you can put things in it so it's useful too! It was a fun party. When we were done painting we had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and Dad met us there too. It was a special night!

Palm Desert Weekend

Two weekends ago, I took Friday off and we headed out to meet Grandma Jeanne and Papa Mick in the desert for the weekend. They had just driven out from Minnesota to spend the next two months in warmer weather. We met up with them at their Marriott timeshare which they booked for the first week. Unfortunately, it was a pretty chilly weekend. We got a TON of rain the previous week and the kids and I actually drove out in pouring down rain on Friday. It was in the 50's and 60's... the coldest I've ever experienced in the desert. That didn't stop us from having a great time. The rain provided for magnificent views of snow capped mountains and the resort had the hot tub fired up! Maddie had fun doing some projects at the kids club Saturday morning while William played the wii. We took a ride on the "bus" over to the Marriott lobby to check out the birds. We ate some yummy dinners out and just had fun hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.








When Grandma and Grandpa get back from Puerto Vallerta (they are there for 3 weeks), they'll be back out in La Quinta for the month of March. I'm sure it will be warmer than and we'll definitely be headed out for some weekend visits and hopefully more pool time!